


Doing Anything but Sleeping

by Ot3srock



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Awkward Carlos, Bad Things Happen To Carlos, Carlos is a Dork, Carlos-centric, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Minor Evie/Mal (Disney), Misunderstandings, Multi, Nightmares, No one knows what this poor child went through, Past Child Abuse, Protective Jay, Sleep Deprivation, Sleepiness, Sleeptalking, United States of Auradon (Disney), Watching Someone Sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-01-30 03:59:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12645654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ot3srock/pseuds/Ot3srock





	Doing Anything but Sleeping

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lightbringer666](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightbringer666/gifts).



"Are you gonna sleep tonight?" Jay asked, hand slowly stroking Carlos' face.

"Maybe. We'll see," Carlos said, grabbing Jay's wrist lightly and turning his head to kiss the older boy's palm sweetly. He didn't like lying to Jay, but it was the only way he could allow at least one of them to sleep soundly at night.

Most of the time, Carlos just stayed awake, watching Jay's chest move up and down rhythmically, maybe falling asleep for a half hour or so if he was lucky. Sometimes, he fell asleep automatically. Faster than one could blink. Those were the terrible nights. The nights when he was transported back to the Isle. Back to his mother. Back to the horrors of endless lists of chores, screeches of his name, bear traps surrounding the furs so closely packed that he had to find another way into his "room", and worst of all, the bloodied lips, black eyes, and cuts and bruises littering his body every day that he'd have to hide from Mal, Evie, and Jay.

His friends. The only ones who actually cared whether he lived or died. The ones who helped patch him up when he was beaten or bullied in school. Those cuts and bruises he couldn't avoid them seeing, so he tried his dammed hardest to not let them see what went on behind the massive, crumbling doors of Hell Hall.

So now, here he was, a year after getting sent to Auradon(they thought it was a privilege), laying in this squishy bed, feeling like he was gonna be sucked in by the cushiony mattress. The feeling of a comfortable bed was still foreign to Carlos, even though his friends were all accustomed to the luxury that was Auradon Preparatory School.

"Are you feeling alright? You seem jittery," Jay noted.

"I'm fine." Carlos brushed it off with a wave of his hand. "Just sleep. I'll be fine." He felt his eyelids grow heavy fast and became a little worried. 

"Alright." Jay turned off the light and settled into bed. Carlos watched him for a few moments before getting up and walking to his own bed across the room. He petted Dude's head and closed his eyes, falling asleep instantly without even knowing it.

Jay woke to the sound of terrified screaming as Carlos was whisked away back to the Isle. Back trapped behind the deteriorating walls of the de Vil Manor. Back to his mother's venomous and cruel words and the lacerations and bruises from her calloused hands. Held in the confines of the prison he called home with only his own broken mind to keep him company as he completed the grueling tasks set out by the one person who was supposed to love him unconditionally. Clean every room in the house from ceiling to floor. Maintain the furs while he avoided the bear traps and tried not to bleed on his mother's most prized possessions. All while trying to keep quiet while she was home in order to avoid getting a beating with her hands, a pot or a pan, or any number of objects that left him bleeding on the marble floors of the area he was cleaning at that moment. Sure, Maleficent was evil, but Cruella was demented, and her deranged mind was the most terrifying thing Carlos could ever know. He screamed as he saw Auradon shatter around him and the Isle of the Lost trap him again without intention of letting him out.

Jay was out of bed and across the room before the light in the hallway turned on. Jay sat by Carlos as the boy remembered his mother's nails scratching at his face and body, narrowly missing his eye in her blind rage.

"P-please," Carlos whimpered, curling up into a ball. "S-stop. No. I-I d-didn't do anything. I swear."

"Carlos," Jay whispered, rubbing the boy's shoulder. Carlos flinched away from the touch and Jay pulled his hand back. Sometimes he forgot that he couldn't touch his boyfriend when he was this lost in his past. "Carlos it's just a dream." Some students had started to gather around the door, watching the scene unfold. Jay didn't know who had opened the door, but he hated them in that moment. Mal and Evie pushed their way through the ever-growing crowd of students and went straight to Carlos' bed, kneeling beside the younger boy.

"No touching?" Evie guessed.

"No. He's too deep," Jay confirmed. Some kids started to enter the room, but Mal glared them down with her glowing emerald eyes.

"Back off, all of you," she hissed. The crowd scattered in fear.

"Should I get Fairy Godmother?" Evie asked.

"Please," Mal said, touching her arm gently. Evie rushed to get the teacher, returning with her just as Carlos started to toss and turn violently. His friends just watched on, knowing they couldn't do anything to stop him from feeling this way.

"Oh, dear. What happened?" Fairy Godmother asked as she entered the room.

"He's having a nightmare about the Isle," Jay explained, feeling useless as he watched his sweet, loving boy become so terrified at his own mother. "We need to wake him up, but we can't..." Jay was cut of by the horrified screams of the white haired boy as he was dragged back into the horrors of his past fourteen years under Cruella's decaying roof and back in his broken mind.

"I can't take this anymore!" Mal growled out. She grabbed Carlos' shoulders and shook him, waking him up successfully. His eyes snapped open and he gasped for breath.

"Mal?" he asked. "What are you doing?"

"You had a nightmare, Carlos. We were worried about you. What did you see?" Mal explained, voice soft. Fairy Godmother had never seen Mal so sincere or so worried about someone before.

"Nothing. Did I do something?" The confusion on their young friend's face made Mal, Evie, and Jay's faces contort into sad expressions.

"You screamed," Evie told the boy. "You really scared us. Is something going on?"

"I can't sleep. I'm not used to this level of comfort and luxury," Carlos admitted. "I'm not used to someone caring about me. I feel out of place here and no one understands." Tears gathered at the edges of his eyes.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Jay put a comforting hand on his boy's shoulder.

"Because you guys are all getting along here so well and I didn't want to burden you with my problems. You all are so happy and I'm just a kid you feel sorry for so you protect him."

"Carlos, that's not true," Evie refuted. "You're our friend. Whether you choose to believe it or not, we do care about you."

"We're always here for you. You matter to us," Mal continued.

"We love you," Jay finished. The girls kissed Carlos' cheeks and Jay kissed his lips. Fairy Godmother took that as her cue and left the room, closing the door silently. The four friends curled up on the bed with Carlos and Jay in the middle with Mal next to Jay and Evie next to Carlos. They fell asleep like that, Carlos feeling comforted and warm enough to sleep soundly through the rest of the night.


End file.
